Stocking and the art of knitting the same



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(Specimens.)

J. H. HINOHLIFFE.

STOCKING AND THHART OF KNITTING THE SAME.

No. 374,408. Patented Dec. 6, 1887.

Nv PETERQ FhclmLiiMgnpher, Wnhlngton, D. C.

(Specimens.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. i

J. HJHINCHLIPFE. STOGKING AND THE ART OF KNITTING THE SAME.

No. 374,408. Patented Dec. 6, 1887.

. j jfiaplrji a. mans mm m Wnhinglom a. c.

' U NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES H. I-IINCHLIFFE, OF MEREDITH, NEW HAMPSHIRE.

STOCKING AND THE ART OF KNITTING THE SAME.-

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Fatent No. 374,408, dated December 6, 1887.

Serial No. 209,774. {SpecimcnsJ To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES H. HINOHLIFFE, of Meredith, in the county of Belknap and State of New Hampshire, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stockings and the Art of Knitting the Same, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to stockings and to the art of knitting the same.

It is the object of my invention to produce an improved mode of knitting a seamless stocking properly shaped to fit the leg and foot of the wearer.

It is also the object of my invention to produce a stocking of improved structural character, which shall be seamless throughout and shaped to fit the leg and foot of the wearer, the foot and ankle portion, orthat portion coming within the shoe of the wearer, being knit in plain stitch and the leg portion above the shoe being knit in rib stitch and with a greater number of stitches than is contained in the foot and ankle portion, and without eyeletholes at the junction of the ribbed with the plain portion.

To the foregoing ends my invention consists in the stocking and the art of producing the same,hereinafter fullydescribed, so that others skilled in the art may practice and make and use the same, the invention being particularly set forth in the claims hereto appended.

Of the drawings hereto annexed and forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a stocking embodying my invention, the upper portion of theleg being shown in outline merely. Fig. 2 represents an inside or wrong-side view of a portion of the fabric comprising my stocking, at the junction of the plain portion constituting the foot and ankle, with the ribbed portion comprising the leg. Fig. 3 represents-a diagram, hereinafter referred to, indicating the operation of the needles at certain points in the process ofknitting my improved stocking. Figs. 4 and 5 represent a dial and a cylinderneedle and their relative positions, as well, also, as their relation to the fabric and loops produced thereby at one point on the machine when the change is made from plain to rib work, a fraction of a yarn-guide and yarn fed thereby being shown in Fig. 4.. Fig. 6 is an exaggerated view of a portion of the fabric at the junction of the plain with the ribbed fab ric, showing the manner of closing the eyeletholes.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts in all of the figures.

In carrying out my invention I firstknit the tee a, foot portion 1), heel c, and ankle portion (1 in plain stitch on any circular-knitting machine capable of knitting what is commonly known as bulge toe and heel, employing,

for example, a machine like that shown and described in Letters Patent of the United States to James L. Branson, No. 149,192, dated March 31, 1874., and commencing at the toe, as is commonly done in knitting stockings with a bulge toe and heel on machines of the type mentioned. The knitting is continued in plain stitch above the'heel until an ankle portion of sufficient length is produced, preferably to a point just on a line with the top of the boot or shoe, say at the point indicated by the letter 0 in Figs. 1 and 2. I now transfer the web to a circular machine adapted to knit ribbed work, and employing as many cylinder-needles as were employed in the cylinder upon which the foot and ankle portion of my stocking were produced and as many dialneedles in addition. The machine shown in the patent to George E. Nye, of Bristol, Pennsylvania, No. 316,907, dated Angust28, 1885, may serve to illustrate the mode of procedure at and from this point forward. The machine disclosed in the patent last before mentioned is shown as equipped with two yarnguides and two needle-operating cams at different points in the circumference of the cylinder. These two points may be supposed to be located with respect to each other, as indicated by the letters aw in Fig. 3. In addidition to moving the dial-cams 'to control the operations of the dialneedles, I construct the cams to move the cylinder-needles so as to operate the same in like manner, as is common in circular machines of this and other types,

and as is well understood by all knitting arti- ICO needles will be moved to produce plain kuiti ting as before, while the dial-needles will be held entirely out of action, and so that if at the point to both the dial and cylinder needles were held out of action a tubular web in plain stitch might be produced,as on the Branson machine, before mentioned. At the point w, however,Ifeedin an additional yarn or thread, (2, and so adjust the cams for moving the dialneedles f that the latter will be operated to their full extent, but regulate the cams for moving the cylinder-needles y,so that the latter will be raised high enough only to take the yarn or thread 6, but not to carry the loop 71, in their hooks below the latches i, as shown in Fig. 4, the result of which will be, when the needles are retracted, to leave two loops in the hooks of the cylinder-needles and one in the hooks of the dial needles, as represented in Fig. 5. When, now, the point a is reached, at which point, as stated, the dial-needles are out of operation, the cylinder-needles will take the regular yarn or thread, each cylinderneedle drawing it through the two loops held by it, leaving but a single loop in the hooks ofthe needles, as before. If knitting should be proceeded with in this manner, the result would be a web having a right side of substantially the same nature as before, with ribs 011 the wrong side attached to the portion of the main thread intermediate of the loops formed thereby, as will be understood by reference to Fig. 6 of the drawings. Knitting in this way is continued preferably for two rounds or courses, when the thread or yarn e is severed, and both the dial and cylinder needles at the point 10 are thrown out of action and the dial-needles at the pointr brought into operation in conjunction with the cylinder-needles, the result of which will be regular one-and-one-ribbed work with twice the number of stitches in the tube produced as in the plain-stitch work of the foot and ankle portion, in which way the knitting of the stocking is proceeded with to the top j, when, if desired, the additional thread 6 may be brought into use with the dial and cylinder needles at the point w, as before, for the purpose of securing the stitches at the top of the stocking from readily running or raveling back while the article is being manipulated for the purpose of hem ming orotherwise finishing the top.

The result of beginning ribbed work on a fabric knit in plain stitch in the manner set forth will be that the extra thread or yarn e will be so formed in loops on the part of the yarn between or joining the wales of the plainknit fabric as to effectually close what would otherwise be eyelet-holes at the points where the dial-needles begin the formation of stitches.

In Fig. 6 I have shown, on an exaggerated scale, the structural character of the fabric at the point of junction of the plain with the ribbed portion, as well, also, as the relationship of the supplemental thread 6 and the loops formed therefrom to the main thread 6 and its loops. In this View, A represents the loops formed by the cylinder-needles; B, the loops formed by the dial-needles when first thrown into operation so as to catch the main thread 6, and O the eyelet-holes that would ordinarily be formed at the junction of the plain with the ribbed web. The full dark lines indicate the loops formed by the dialneedles from the supplemental thread 0 attached to the main web, as shown, said loops being made on the back or wrong side, be-

tween the wales of the plain-knit portion, on a line with the subsequently-formed wales or ribs knit by the dial-needles in the ribbed portion, and, as' a consequence, over. the eyeletholes 0, as shown. The last loops formed by the dial-needles from the supplemental thread will be looped with the first loops B, formed by the dial-needles from the main thread 6.

A stocking constructed in the manner set forth will have that part thereof coming within the boot or shoe of no more than ordinary thickness, so as not to interfere with the wearing of a boot such as may be worn with stockings of common construction, while the part of the stocking above the boot, designed to protect the limb of the wearer against cold, will be substantially of double thickness, and be at the same time larger or fuller, so as to fit the calf or enlarged part of the limb. It may also be mentioned that the appearance of the stocking on the out or right side is substantially the same in both the ribbed and plain portions, so that no objection arises on that score. I v

As stated, the extra thread 0, knit in at the junction of the ribbed with the plain portion, is formed in loops on the back of the yarn connecting each two wales of the plain-knit portion at the points where eyelet-holes would occur if additional needles were simply brought into operation to produce ribbed work without employing such additional thread in the manner explained.

Having thus described claim 1. A stocking having the foot and ankle portion, or that portion designed to come within the boot or shoe of the wearer, knit in plain stitch, and the leg portion above the ankle knit in rib stitch,-with aconsiderably greater number of stitches in the rib or leg portion than in the foot and ankle or plainknit portion, an extra yarn or thread being looped on the back of the portion of the yarn connecting each two wales of the plain-knit portion in the course just preceding or adjacent to. the first rib course and looped or joined to the latter course, as set forth.

2. The improvement in the art of knitting stockings, which consists in knitting the toe, foot, heel, and ankle portions in any known way, looping an extra yarn or thread on the back of the portion of the yarn or thread connecting each two wales of the plain-knit portion, then adding an additional number of stitches, as rib stitches, between the stitches comprising the plain-knit portion, and formmy invention, I

ing the leg portion of the stocking in rib stitch, substantially as hereinbefore set forth.

3. The improvement in the art of knitting on two sets of needles, with two yarn'guides and two sets of needle-operating-cams, which consists in first knitting a web on one set of needles with one yarn-guide and one set of needle-operatingoainsin operation, and then knitting with said set of needles, yarn-guide, and needle-operating cams at one point, and with the same set of needles and the other set of needles and other yarn-guide and set of needleoperating cams at another point, the firstmentioned set of needles at the latter point being operated so as not to cast the loops upon them, but to take the yarn from the latter yarn-guide, as set forth.

4. lheirnprovement in the art of beginning the knitting of rib work on plain-knit work in the process of knitting a stock-ing, which consists in forming plain-knit work from a main thread on one set of needles, then bringing into operation a second set of needles, and forming loops or stitches thereon from a supplemental thread, connecting such loops with the main thread of the plain-knit portion, and finally knitting on both sets of needles with the main thread, discontinuing knitting with the supplemental thread, and looping the last loops formed by the second set of needles from the supplemental thread with the first row of loops formed by both sets of needles from the main thread alone, as set forth.

In testimony whereofI have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 16th day of July, 1886.

JAMES H. HINOHLIFFE.

Witnesses:

D. E. Enron, S. A. LADD. 

